August 25, 2005

At Camp Warhorse in Iraq, roller hockey has become a nightly ritual for soldiers.

In a rare assessment, Justice John Paul Stevens said in a speech that some recent Supreme Court decisions were "unwise."

David Pogue column on Google's announcement of two more free software tools for Windows: new version of Google Desktop Search and free instant-messaging program called Google Talk; photo (M)

The four candidates in the Democratic primary for Brooklyn district attorney had a lively skirmish last night in their first televised debate, which proved to be relentlessly adversarial. In the nearly 50-minute debate, Charles J. Hynes, the 16-year incumbent, was harshly criticized by his rivals, who accused him of everything from inflating data on conviction rates and accepting campaign contributions from subordinates to turning a blind eye to corruption in the borough.

Over the past two weeks, Manager Willie Randolph has needed to rely as much on the injury report as on his intuition when filling out the lineup card. No Mike Cameron? Insert Victor Diaz, a converted second baseman with 59 games of major-league experience, to play right field.

QUITE a few fashion designers have everything it takes, and more, to be minimalists. They have an excess of talent to make clean lines out of ornamental ones, yet they lack the will or the stamina to hold unpopular views, and minimalism has been out of vogue for a good 10 years. Even its greatest practitioner, Giorgio Armani, today adds more than he subtracts. And to some extent we associate minimalism with failure -- the failure of Jil Sander and Helmut Lang to continue under Prada ownership.

O V Delle-Femine, president of Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn, union at Northwest Airlines, must find unity with other unions at airline where his members are on strike; has said that other unions do poor job representing mechanics; has further angered labor community by asserting that elite mechanics should not be in same union as less-exalted baggage handlers, whom his union has called 'bag smashers'; has not received support from other airlines at Northwest; photo (M)

Independent commission reviewing Defense Dept plan to shut or shrink hundreds of military bases nationwide votes not to close oldest American submarine base, in Groton, Conn, and historic Portsmouth naval shipyard in Kittery, Me; over all, nine-member Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission endorses most of Pentagon's blueprint for changes at more than 800 facilities; contentious debates are expected on proposals to close Air Force installations and shift squadrons around country; chairman Anthony J Principi says panel overturned Pentagon plan to close Groton and Portsmouth bases over uncertainty about whether Navy will need to grow in response to China's naval buildup, as well as concern about losing expertise at both places; those two bases provide estimated $2.9 billion of Pentagon's estimate of nearly $50 billion in savings over next 20 years; their proposed closings formed two of largest moneysavers in Pentagon plan; photo; map (M)

The congregation's leaders were like disappointed parents. Earlier this month, their widely popular rabbi had been charged with possessing marijuana and driving while his ability was impaired by drugs, both misdemeanors. Now, the board of trustees at Congregation Sons of Israel had to decide on the proper punishment. In the end, after a meeting that began on Tuesday night and lasted until 2 a.m. on Wednesday, they decided that the rabbi, Steven C. Kane, 50, should receive a 30-day paid suspension.

Africa is world's fastest-growing cellphone market; number of mobile suscribers there jumped to 76.8 million, from 7.5 million, from 1999 to 2004, at average annual increase of 58 percent; Asia, next fastest-expanding market, grew by annual average of 34 percent in that period; one-fifth of Africa's cellphone growth is in South Africa, continent's richest nation; cellphone boom in Africa, where so many live in poverty, takes industry by surprise; but when African nations began to privatize their telephone monopolies in mid-1990's, fiercely competitive operators began to sell air time in smaller, cheaper units, and cellphone use exploded; photos; map; graph (M)

YES Network is a study in Yankees immersion. Oh, there are Nets games, but YES is clearly the sod of the Yankees, a pinstriped gift box, a special-interest channel packed with 130 games and past classics, 34 adoring episodes of ''Yankeeography,'' a magazine program and a series in which four fans travel to every Yankee game. It offers no nightly sports news wrap-ups like ''SportsCenter'' but uses its studios for pregame and postgame Yankees and Nets shows and the ''CenterStage'' talk show.

IN Henry Jaglom's singular world, here lies paradise, at least when it comes to lunch. At one end of Il Dolce's intimate terrace, water trickles down a cherub's stomach while clumps of women, empowered by bags filled with the spoils of shopping, dish over salads. Every day for the last six years Mr. Jaglom, the eccentric filmmaker, has dined here on chicken strip sandwiches and oceans of tea with half a dozen lemons, a tart abundance that helps him meet his daily quota of 20. ''That's the reason for my gorgeous complexion,'' Mr. Jaglom said.